The House of Culture in Banská Bystrica was one of a series of large cultural houses designed at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s. The competition for the All-Union Club KOR, as the building was originally called, was held in 1961. However, its realisation was disproportionately prolonged - construction began in 1973, twelve years after the initial project was approved, and the building was not handed over for use until 1979. The basic form of the building was largely defined by the 1959 urban planning competition for the location of the SNP Memorial and Museum in Banská Bystrica. The House of Culture was to follow the long line of the SNP Street, which was meant to result in the building of the SNP Memorial and Museum.
The Banská Bystrica House of Culture is designed as an atrium monoblock. On the ground floor there are the entrance areas of the chamber theatre, stage hall, restaurant, clubhouse and atrium space in front of the cinema hall. The cinema hall, which was built later, cantilevers out from the main mass. The puppet theatre is located on the lowered and raised ground floor. The clubs around the atrium are spread over three floors. All the main social spaces are concentrated on the first floor - the social hall (787 seats), the chamber theatre (297 seats) and the restaurant (232 seats), which can be combined as required. In addition, the social hall can be connected to the foyer. Besides the auditorium with a capacity of 157 seats, there are also clubs, a library with a reading room and additional facilities.
The material solution and the monumentality of the building illustrated the shift of paradigm that was taking place in architectural production in Slovakia in the 1970s. The elegant glass façade is alternated on the north side by a massive frame that frames the glazing of the foyer, rhythmised by a dense row of slender pillars. The expressive effect of the façade is enhanced by a relief wall made of concrete placed above the entrance to the atrium (by Jozef Chrobák and Oto Opršal). The interiors were complemented by the works of well-known representatives of Slovak art modernism Ján Korkoš, Milan Laluha, Vladimír Kompánek, Ester Šimerová-Martinčeková and others. In 1979 the house was awarded the Prize of the Union of Slovak Architects.
Bibliography:
CHROBÁK, Jozef: Dom kultúry ROH v Banskej Bystrici. Projekt 18, 1976, 3, s. 38 – 40.
CHROBÁK, Jozef – DROPPA, Virgil: Dom kultúry ROH v Banskej Bystrici. Projekt 23, 1981, 6, s. 11 – 21.
KUSÝ, Martin: Všeodborový klub KOR v Banskej Bystrici. Projekt 4, 1962, 1, s. 14 - 17.
ZALČÍK, Tibor – DULLA, Matúš: Slovenská architektúra 1976 – 1980. Bratislava, Veda 1982. 192 s., tu s. 60 – 61.
DULLA, Matúš – MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta: Architektúra Slovenska v 20. storočí. Bratislava, Slovart 2002. 512 s.
MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta - SZALAY, Peter. Domy kultúry na Slovensku: Vzostup a pád jedného typologického druhu. In Osvěta, kultura, zábava: kultúrní domy v Československu,Michaela Janečková, Irena Lehkoživoá (eds.) 2024, VI PER: Praha, 601 s.
